417th Bombardment Squadron - 97th Combat Wing

417th Bombardment Sqdn - 97th Combat Wing - 9th Air Force. Disney style leatherette parch. With light age and wear. Measures 6 1/4” x 5” Flew A-20 Havoc The squadron arrived at its first overseas station, RAF Birch in April 1944, but soon moved to RAF Gosfield. The squadron flew its first combat mission the following month. It helped to prepare for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, by assaulting coastal defenses, airfields, and V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket sites in France, and marshalling yards in France and Belgium. It supported the landings in June by bombing artillery positions and railway choke points. Assisted ground forces participating in Operation Cobra, the breakthrough at St Lo in July, and supported ground forces at Caen and Brest, France through September by attacking bridges, vehicles, fuel and ammunition dumps, and rail lines